Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In 2013, there were just over 21,000 invasive cancer cases diagnosed in Ireland. By 2022, that figure had risen to 26,000 annually. Of course, the population grew very considerably in that time as well. That increase is in line with projections made by the National Cancer Registry Ireland. With a growing and ageing population increases in cancer cases are to be expected, with cancer being more prevalent as one ages.

While we are seeing more people being diagnosed with cancer, those people are living longer with and beyond cancer. When the concurrent national cancer strategy was published in 2017, there were 150,000 people living following a diagnosis of invasive cancer. That figure has now increased to 220,000. In 2021, there were almost 9,600 deaths from cancer in Ireland. In 2013, that figure was 8,700. While still too high, cancer mortality rates in Ireland are falling faster than the EU average, having fallen by 17% between 2011 and 2021, compared with the EU average of 12%. More than €105 million has been invested in the implementation of the national cancer strategy since 2017. This includes €23 million for cancer services in 2025. That investment has allowed us to recruit more than 670 new staff to cancer services.

This Government is fully committed, as I know everyone in this House is, to developing and improving cancer services. Our investment in cancer services is delivering better outcomes for patients. I will arrange for a table outlining cancer cases and deaths to be provided to the Deputy. I have to say that when I first looked at the data, I was quite struck. I had not realised quite how high the proportion is of people who are dying from cancer. Nevertheless, I take some measure of comfort from our falling mortality rates relative to the rest of the EU and the return that we are getting on investment where more and more people are living with and beyond cancer.

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